1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to furniture, specifically to a coffee table which can aid in recycling.
2. Description of Prior Art
Industrial society produces mountainous tonnage of waste. The E.P.A. reports that in 1988, 40% of the garbage produced in the U.S. can be attributed to paper and paperboard. Inventors have developed devices for storing and recycling both domestic and industrial discarded matter.
Scott Kuhen in 1977, showed an outdoor recycling structure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,960. The structure was garbage bin but was not conveniently located near to where people produce waste.
In 1975 and 1977, Bruce Gamble showed two apparatuses for holding and bailing newspapers, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,912,047 and 4,049,222. Both inventions were bags for holding newspapers but did not solve the problem of storing the papers until the papers were to be recycled.
A West German published patent application, 1947, 3,435,666 of Leo Prostler showed a kitchen cabinet system for storing domestic waste. The invention was convenient for food type waste, but wasn't located in an ideal place for sorting newspapers.
Mary Pessagno showed a newspaper and magazine storage device in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,088 in 1974. The device was designed for holding newspapers and magazines for future reference without the expressed intent of recycling them eventually.
A drawer design was patented with a knock-down front for converting the drawer into a bin by Edward Joffe in 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,874. The knockdown front made removal of objects easier, but it was not intended for storing newspapers, nor did it aid in binding newspapers.
These inventions all serve a useful purpose yet they generally neglect to locate the recycling apparatus in the most convenient place. With regard to newspaper waste, a significant percentage of the population read the daily newspaper on a couch or chair situated near a coffee table in their living room. The coffee table frequently appears in a living room near a living room couch set because the height of a coffee table is approximately the same as the seat level of a couch or chair.
Like most other types of furniture, coffee tables have both a functional as well as an aesthetic dimension. A coffee table's functional purpose is usually for resting objects on its surface, such as drinks, knickknacks, books, etc. Some designs have small drawers for storing pens, notepads and other small objects.